Modern Languages with International Experience (BA): 4-year, full-time

Bachelor's degree

In London

£ 9,250 VAT inc.

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    London

  • Duration

    4 Years

Would you love to develop your understanding of the cultures and values that lie at the heart of different countries and become a highly proficient linguist in the process? Our BA Modern Languages with International Experience allows you to raise your language skills to near-native standard in at least one of two languages studied, and learn related skills in translating, summary-writing, and written and oral presentations. At the same time, you can increase your cultural understanding through options in literature, film and society. Our students gain confidence in speaking and writing both the chosen languages for study and English.

You will have the opportunity to study a number of cross-cultural modules allowing you to explore specific themes across a variety of language-speaking areas.

The third year is normally spent abroad at a partner institution to allow you to develop your language skills and your knowledge of the culture of the language-speaking area you are studying.

You can also apply for a three-year version of the programme without a year abroad, and you will normally also be able to transfer to this version of the programme during your first or second year of study if you decide you do not wish to study outside of the UK.

The programme is also available part-time, without a year abroad, over four years.

Facilities

Location

Start date

London
See map
Malet Street, WC1E 7HX

Start date

On request

About this course

Graduates can pursue careers in education, publishing or commerce and banking. This degree can also be useful in becoming a translator, interpreter, secondary school teacher, broadcast journalist or English as a Foreign Language teacher.

We offer a comprehensive Careers Service to help you advance your career, while our in-house, professional recruitment consultancy, Birkbeck Talent, works with London’s top employers to help you gain work experience that fits in with your evening studies.

We welcome applicants without traditional entry qualifications as we base decisions on our own assessment of qualifications, knowledge and previous work experience. We may waive formal entry requirements based on judgement of academic potential.

On this programme you can focus on two of the following languages: French, German, Italian, Japanese or Spanish.

Awarding Body
University of London

Questions & Answers

Add your question

Our advisors and other users will be able to reply to you

Who would you like to address this question to?

Fill in your details to get a reply

We will only publish your name and question

Reviews

Subjects

  • Latin
  • Translation
  • Politics
  • European History
  • English
  • Simulation
  • Cinema
  • International
  • Writing
  • Full Time

Course programme

COURSE STRUCTURE

You take compulsory, core and option modules to a total of 360 credits over three years.

Your programme will be designed to suit your interests and your language capability, which can be at any level from beginner to native speaker proficiency for one of your chosen languages, but which must be at least post-A-level/B2 (CEFR) or equivalent competence for your second chosen language. If your second language is Japanese, however, GCSE level (70% of the content that is needed to pass Japanese-Language Proficiency Test N5) is sufficient.

This sample programme - language pathways B and C - will help give you a better idea of the structure you would be following, but please bear in mind that other languages and pathways are available:

YEAR 1
  • Cultural Perspectives on German History
  • Japanese 2
  • Rethinking Japan: Introduction to Modern Japanese Society and Culture (Level 5)
YEAR 2
  • Film and Politics
  • German 4
  • Japanese 3
  • The Twentieth Century: Key Themes in Comparative European History (Level 5)
YEAR 4
  • Extended Essay
  • German 5
  • Japanese 4 (Level 6)
  • Manga and Anime
INDICATIVE COMPARATIVE CULTURE OPTION MODULES
  • Beating Nature: Artificiality, Imitation and Simulation
  • Film and Politics
  • Representations of Love, Desire and Sexuality
  • Stories of the Self (Level 5)
  • The Twentieth Century: Key Themes in Comparative European History (Level 5)
  • Understanding Culture: Language and Texts
INDICATIVE FRENCH OPTION MODULES
  • French Cinema: History, Practice, Analysis
  • French Political Culture: Traditions and Change
  • French Thought: from the Renaissance to Postmodernity
  • Imagining France: An Introduction to French Studies
  • Memoire en francais
  • The Twentieth-Century French Humanist Novel: Malraux and Camus
  • Translation from and into French
INDICATIVE GERMAN OPTION MODULES
  • A Topic in German Thought: The Idea of Enlightenment
  • Berlin since 1945: History and Culture (Level 5)
  • Das Dritte Reich
  • Die Deutschsprachige Presse
  • Post-War German Film
  • The Politics of Gender and Modern German Culture
  • Wirtschaftsdeutsch
INDICATIVE ITALIAN OPTION MODULES
  • Introduction to Italian Culture (Level 4)
INDICATIVE JAPANESE OPTION MODULES
  • Advanced Seminar in Japanese Culture and Society
  • Popular Culture in Japan and East Asia
  • Theorising Japanese Cinema
INDICATIVE PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH OPTION MODULES
  • Advanced Portuguese Seminar (Level 5)
  • Art and Empire in the Iberian World
  • Creative Destruction. Cultural responses to contemporary Portugal (level 6)
  • Iberian Political Cultures: The Spanish Case
  • Iberian Political Cultures: The Portuguese Case
  • Literature and the Nation in Latin America (Mexico)
  • Literature and the Nation in Latin America (Argentina)
  • Lusophone Cinema (level 5)
  • Picturing the African Presence in Early Modern Spain
  • Power and Control in Spanish Golden Age Art
  • Power and Resistance in Spanish and Brazilian Film (Level 5)
  • Scenes of Portuguese History: Cultural approaches to modern politics
  • Studying the Hispanic, Luso-Brazilian and Native American Worlds
  • The Latin American Novel
  • The Problem of National Identity in Modern Spain
  • The Urban Experience in Brazil
Please note that not all modules are available every year; the list above is indicative.

By the end of your third year of study (and sometimes by the end of your second year), you will have reached proficiency (C2) in both of your chosen languages unless you start at beginner or GCSE level in your second language, in which case you will reach either level B2 or C1 in the Common European Framework of Reference in that language.

If you exit the degree with both of your chosen languages at C2 level, or one language at C2 and one at C1 level, you will be awarded an 'and' degree (e.g. BA Modern Languages (German and Japanese)).

If you exit with one of your chosen languages at C2 level and one at B2 level, you will be awarded a 'with' degree (e.g. BA Modern Languages (German with Japanese)).

Birkbeck makes all reasonable efforts to deliver educational services, modules and programmes of study as described on our website. In the event that there are material changes to our offering (for example, due to matters beyond our control), we will update applicant and student facing information as quickly as possible and offer alternatives to applicants, offer-holders and current students.

Additional information

UCAS Code R990

Duration
Four years full-time, including one year of study abroad

FEES
Full-time international students, 3 years of study: £14280 pa
Full-time home students, international year: £1385 pa
Full-time international students, international year: £2140 pa

Modern Languages with International Experience (BA): 4-year, full-time

£ 9,250 VAT inc.